Hirai talks PS3 price drops, backwards compatibility, and more!

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Speaking to Famitsu, Playstation supremo Kaz Hirai discussed a variety of juicy PS3 issues including further price drops, the lack of backwards compatibility in newer models and Monster Hunter's move to the Wii. Hirai commented that as far as pricing goes, the more games thare are and the higher the amount of PS3 units shipped, the more they are able to lower the price.

He also noted that there were many discussions about backwards compatibility although it was removed as the top riority is for owners to play Blu-ray games and have access to downloadable content. Moving onto the loss of Monster Hunter 3 to the Wii, Hirai stated that he hopes Sony can continue partnership with Capcom in this capacity.

To quote: The PS2 has had several price drops, can we see similar trends with the PS3?

Hirai: When there are more games on the console and the unit itself has also shipped a fair number, one trend is that we are able to reduce the costs. When games of different genres have been released, some of these will appeal to the masses and this is when we have to consider a pricing which would appeal to these types of audiences. This is a common trend so the PS3 doesn't need to go against such trends. By keeping the 20GB and 60GB, we are leaving as many options as possible for the consumers to choose from.

The new PS3 models no longer have backwards compatibility features. Removing this must have been a big decision.

Hirai: We have gone through many discussions but we concluded that it is only one of many features of the PS3. What is more important is for the users to play PS3 games on the PS3, so our top priority is for them to be playing Bluray games and downloadable contents. There are users who probably want to play PS3 games but feel it is too expensive. By removing backwards compatibility and be able to sell at a lower price point is just another strategy of ours.

Monster Hunter 3 was recently announced for the Wii. What is your honest opinion regarding this announcement?

Hirai: It is my understanding that it is up to the game companies to make business decisions on which platform to release their titles. The series has helped in the success of PS2 and PSP. Capcom has plans to release Monster Hunter Portable 2G for the PSP in March '08 [in Japan] so we hope to continue our partnership with the company.